Rubber footwear



(No Model.)

J. M. KING. RUBBER FOOTWEAR.

No. 579,397. Patented Mar. 23. 1897.

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JOSEPH M. KING, OF BROOKLYN, NEIV YORK.

RUBBER FOOTWEAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 579,397, dated March23, 1897. Application filed October 4:, 1895. Serial No. 564,600. (Nomocleh) To 0; whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH M. KING, of the city of Brooklyn, in thecounty of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Rubber Footwear, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to overshoes and all other kinds of rubberfootwear. The weakest part of rubber footwear has generally been alongthe uppers at and near the soles. It has been customary to reinforce theboot or shoe in this part by means of a strip termed a piping, the loweredge of said strip being inserted between the outsole and the insole andthe upper portion of said strip being inserted between the lining andthe outer portion of the upper. heretofore applied, while it has givenadditional strength at the immediate connection between the upper andthe sole, has by reason of its upper edge having been straight formedhigher up in the upper along that edge a straight crease, which has beena source of weakness, and the liability to breakage of the upper alongthat crease has been greater thanin the corresponding portion of theboot or shoe having no such reinforcement or piping.

The object of my invention is to further supplement the strengthening ofthe shoe or boot by the reinforcing strip or piping; and to this end itconsists, briefly stated, in giving the upper edge of the said strip orpiping a notched, scalloped, wavy, sinuous, or other irregular profile,whereby greater elasticity is given to the strip or piping in alongitudinal direction, and by avoiding the straight crease in the upperabove the said edge the liability to breakage of the rubber immedi'ately above said edge is obviated or very greatly reduced.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichFigure 1 is a side view of an overshoe having a portion of the upperbroken away to show the reinforcing strip or piping. Figs. 2 and 3 arecorresponding views of portions of an overshoe illustrating differentforms of the irregular upper edge of the reinforcing strip or piping.Fig. t represents, on a larger This stri) or .lJlD as scale than theother figures, a transverse section of the shoe about in the line 4 4 ofFig. 1.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

A designates the outsole; B, the insole; O, the stuffing between the twosoles; D, the upper; a, the lining of the upper; b, the lining of theinsole.

E is the reinforcing strip or piping which constitutes my invention andwhich runs along the sides of the boot or shoe and around the tee fromone side of the counter to the other. In Fig. 1 the upper edge e of thisreinforcing strip or piping is represented as having a profileconsisting of a series of V- shaped notches and intervening points. I11Fig. 2 the said edge is represented as having rounded scallops, and inFig. 3 it is represented as having rectangular notches. It is obviousthat these forms may be varied, and I consider any sinuous or irregularform to be within the scope of my invention. The upper part of thisreinforcing strip or piping is inserted between the upper D and itslining a, and the lower marginal portion is inserted along with theupper D and its lining between the outsole and insole. The several partsare cemented together and vulcanized in the manner common to themanufacture of rubber footwear. The said strip or piping may be of anykind of woven fabric out on the bias and of any suitable strength.

The sinuous or irregular upper edge of the reinforcing strip or pipingproduces a crease in-the upper immediately above it, as shown at 6; butthe crease having the same sinuous or irregular form as said edge doesnot form the same line for breakage as a straight upper edge, and,moreover, the irregular edge being longer than a straight edge givesgreater elasticity to the upper in a longitudinal direction, as the saidedge will be elongated by any stretch in that direction, whereas thestraight edge is comparatively unyielding lengthwise. Furthermore, thegreater length of the edge of sinuous or irregular form gives greaterstrength to resist the strain or stretch of the upper across the foot.

Vhat I claim as my invention is- In a rubber overshoe or boot, thecombination with the outsole, the insole, the upper and theupper-lining, of a reinforcing-strip which runs continuously along thesides of the shoe or boot and around the toe thereof 5 from one side ofthe counter to the other between the outsole and the insole and betweenthe upper and its lining, the said strip having a sinuous or irregularupper edge and being united from edge to edge by cementing andvulcanizing with the said parts between which IO it is interposed,substantially as herein described.

JOSEPH M. KING. Vitnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, C. E. COMES.

